Actualisation des connaissances sur l’abeille Megachile sculpturalis SMITH, 1853 en France et en Europe (Hymenoptera : Megachilidae)

Abstract

Update of knowledge on the bee Megachile sculpturalis SMITH, 1853 in France and Europe (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). - Megachile sculpturalis is a bee native to eastern Asia that is now also present in North America and Europe. This article follows the first synthesis on the ecology and geographical distribution in Europe of this species published in this same journal in 2018 and updates their knowledge. Megachile sculpturalis has been observed in 13 European countries. Its range now extends from the French Atlantic coast in the west to the Crimean Peninsula in the east. It has also been recorded on two Mediterranean islands, Elba (Italy) and Mallorca (Spain). In France, between 2008 and 2020, it was observed in 259 communes in 46 departments. The most northerly French observation was made in 2020 near Reims in the Marne department. Concerning feeding behaviour, new pollen analyses corroborate the results of previous ones which suggested a polylectic diet with a marked preference for shrubs of Asian origin (especially Sophora japonica and Ligustrum sp.). Regarding nesting behaviour, M. sculpturalis makes extensive use of bee hotels. However, a range of diameters (holes in logs or sections of plant stems) between 4 and 8 mm is suitable for the main native species likely to nest in the hotels, while limiting the establishment of M. sculpturalis. New observations have confirmed the tendency of M. sculpturalis to empty the nests of other species in order to establish its own larval cells. In addition, in Switzerland, a female was observed killing a bee of the genus Heriades. Such events, if frequent, could have negative impacts on native bees, but data are currently insufficient to quantify these impacts on populations.

Microbiota and pathogens in an invasive bee: Megachile sculpturalis from native and invaded regions

“…Lythrum salicaria , Lavandula sp. and Buddleja davidii were reported as host plants of both A. florentinum and M. sculpturalis in Southern Europe (Le Féon et al, 2021; Fortunato et al, 2013). Flowers visited by the same insects function as hubs for microbial transmission (Keller et al, 2021) and solitary bees often share microbes with visited flowers (McFrederick et al, 2017; McFrederick et al, 2018).…”

“…Bacterial core ASVs are shared with co-foraging bees in Southern Europe (Le Féon et al, 2021;Fortunato et al, 2013).…”

Nesting biology of Trypoxylon petiolatum Smith, 1858 (Crabronidae), a cavity-nesting solitary wasp new to Europe

“…The rate of expansion of other solitary wasps and bees in Europe is highly-species dependent. Some species, including Isodontia mexicana (de Saussure, 1867), Sceliphron curvatum (F. Smith, 1870) and Megachile sculpturalis (Smith, 1853(Smith, ) (discovered in 1960s, 1979(Smith, , 2008 have widely spread and are now common in various European countries (Bitsch 2020;Le Féon et al 2021;Polidori et al 2021). By contrast, other species, including Sceliphron caementarium (Drury, 1773), Osmia lignaria (Say, 1837), Sceliphron deforme (F. Smith, 1856), Chalybion bengalense (Dahlbom, 1845), Chalybion californicum (de Saussure, 1867), Megachile disjunctiformis (Cockerell, 1911) and Pison koreense (Radoszkowski, 1887) appear to be spreading slowly, based on the scarcity of records since their introduction (1945, 1970s, 2002, 2008, 2011, 2011 and 2017, respectively) Table 1.…”

The new annotated checklist of the wild bees of Europe (Hymenoptera: Anthophila)

“…What is slightly overshadowed however when considering the interaction between global changes and bees is the fact that changes in climate, landuse and global human trading systems can also facilitate the invasion and subsequent expansion of new bee species from other continents (reviewed in Ghisbain et al 2021a). A noticeable example of such an invasion in Europe is that of the giant resin bee (Megachile sculpturalis Smith) and its fast progression across the continent over the last few years (Ivanov & Fateryga 2019;Lanner et al 2021;Le Féon et al 2021;Ortiz-Sánchez & Baquero 2021;Ribas-Marquès & Díaz-Calafat 2021). Other non-native congeneric species have recently been added to the European fauna, including Megachile disjunctiformis Cockerell (Bortolotti et al 2018) and Megachile otomita Cresson (Strudwick & Jacobi 2018).…”